Seasonal Produce Guide for February
7 years ago
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Making My Mom's Day
I have new video of Sarah! Hooray! Well, probably for most of you that doesn't exactly merit a "hooray!" but I know a couple of people who I am pretty sure this will make their day, their week even maybe. My Mom. My Mother-in-Law. My Sister. It will certainly please a couple of very, very sweet aunts who read this blog. I am sure my dad and father-in-law will watch these multiple times. So to all of you, whom I love very much: New Video!!! Hooray!!!
In this video, Sarah and I are playing with two of her puzzles. Sarah is very, very interested in animals these days, and is learning more and more of their names. She also loves to read books about animals, and watch videos of animals on the internet. One of her current favorites is the Koala, which she calls the "Kuh-Wa-Wa" or "Kuh-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa" and occasionally "Kuh-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa." (The "wa's" always come in even numbers, for some reason.) She asks to see videos of Koalas All. The. Time.
Here are a couple more I uploaded that are REALLY just for Sarah's most dedicated fans:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EseNtW-Wm84
In that one, we tried to catch Sarah on video saying, "Mmmm, delicious!" (which she says all the time these days), but instead we just got a video of Sarah very silently and passionately eating corn on the cob.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRQQQP_aUV4
In this one, Sarah was giggling and saying, "I love Daddy," but when we turned the camera on, all we got was whining instead. But this gives you a better idea of what life with a toddler is REALLY like! This is the real deal, folks!
By the way, sorry about the aspect ratio problem on these videos. I am using a new video editing program, because my old one mysteriously stopped working (!), and even though I had the correct aspect ration when I was editing them, for some reason when I saved the videos it went back to the incorrect one. Hmmm. So I will work on trying to figure out what I am doing wrong for the next batch. Love you all! Enjoy!
In this video, Sarah and I are playing with two of her puzzles. Sarah is very, very interested in animals these days, and is learning more and more of their names. She also loves to read books about animals, and watch videos of animals on the internet. One of her current favorites is the Koala, which she calls the "Kuh-Wa-Wa" or "Kuh-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa" and occasionally "Kuh-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa." (The "wa's" always come in even numbers, for some reason.) She asks to see videos of Koalas All. The. Time.
Here are a couple more I uploaded that are REALLY just for Sarah's most dedicated fans:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EseNtW-Wm84
In that one, we tried to catch Sarah on video saying, "Mmmm, delicious!" (which she says all the time these days), but instead we just got a video of Sarah very silently and passionately eating corn on the cob.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRQQQP_aUV4
In this one, Sarah was giggling and saying, "I love Daddy," but when we turned the camera on, all we got was whining instead. But this gives you a better idea of what life with a toddler is REALLY like! This is the real deal, folks!
By the way, sorry about the aspect ratio problem on these videos. I am using a new video editing program, because my old one mysteriously stopped working (!), and even though I had the correct aspect ration when I was editing them, for some reason when I saved the videos it went back to the incorrect one. Hmmm. So I will work on trying to figure out what I am doing wrong for the next batch. Love you all! Enjoy!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
My Funny Girl
I can't believe how quickly October is going by! It seems like it just began a week ago, and now it will be finished in a week! I don't feel that I have been particularly busy recently, just that the days and weeks are flying by. They say time flies when you are having fun, though, and Sarah is SO much fun these days, and the weather has been beautiful here as the rainy season seems to finally have had its last hurrah, so maybe that is why time seems to be going so fast these days!
One of the ways Sarah is super fun these days is she is moving into that wonderful toddler phase of saying funny things. Some of my friends have slightly older toddlers, 2 and 3 year olds, who say HILARIOUS things, and Sarah is not quite there yet. But the things that come out of her mouth these days are adorable, at least we think so. I thought I would intersperse these stories with pics of Sarah brushing her teeth in her jammies, because brushing her teeth is one of favorite activities and I know her pink-footie-jammie days are numbered, which breaks my heart!!!
Sarah is beginning to say little phrases, which is so fun! One of Sarah's favorite animals is the zebra, and she can always recognize a picture of a zebra in any of her books because of the stripes. Recently, though, she has begun applying her knowledge of zebras to other areas of life--like when she wears a striped dress, it is her "zebra dress." I wore a striped shirt the other day and she patted me on the stomach and said, "Oh! Zebra! Cute!"
She is very into saying "Bye!" to things these days. Today we were walking up the stairs to our apartment, coming home from lunch, and she said bye to everything we passed: "Bye keys!" (after David used the keys to open the door to the stairwell), "Bye door!" (as we passed the neighbors' door), "Bye window!" (as we passed the window at the landing of the stairs), "Bye doggie!" (because she knows the doggies all live outside, not at home where we were going), etc.
Sarah has added lots of new adjectives to her vocabulary recently, including: yucky, yummy, hot, cold, funny, and, our favorite, delicious. She loves to say "Mmmmm, delicious!" when she is eating food these days. Yesterday, we were playing outside and watching a young teenager playing with her pet rabbit. The rabbit was happily eating grass and clover, and Sarah was enraptured with the animal. She said, "Bunny eat!" and "Eat grass!" and then she began saying over and over, "Mmmm, delicious!"
By the way, please do not judge me for my dorky white crew socks in this picture. They are so warm and comfortable, you have no idea what you are missing!
One of the ways Sarah is super fun these days is she is moving into that wonderful toddler phase of saying funny things. Some of my friends have slightly older toddlers, 2 and 3 year olds, who say HILARIOUS things, and Sarah is not quite there yet. But the things that come out of her mouth these days are adorable, at least we think so. I thought I would intersperse these stories with pics of Sarah brushing her teeth in her jammies, because brushing her teeth is one of favorite activities and I know her pink-footie-jammie days are numbered, which breaks my heart!!!
Sarah is beginning to say little phrases, which is so fun! One of Sarah's favorite animals is the zebra, and she can always recognize a picture of a zebra in any of her books because of the stripes. Recently, though, she has begun applying her knowledge of zebras to other areas of life--like when she wears a striped dress, it is her "zebra dress." I wore a striped shirt the other day and she patted me on the stomach and said, "Oh! Zebra! Cute!"
She is very into saying "Bye!" to things these days. Today we were walking up the stairs to our apartment, coming home from lunch, and she said bye to everything we passed: "Bye keys!" (after David used the keys to open the door to the stairwell), "Bye door!" (as we passed the neighbors' door), "Bye window!" (as we passed the window at the landing of the stairs), "Bye doggie!" (because she knows the doggies all live outside, not at home where we were going), etc.
Sarah has added lots of new adjectives to her vocabulary recently, including: yucky, yummy, hot, cold, funny, and, our favorite, delicious. She loves to say "Mmmmm, delicious!" when she is eating food these days. Yesterday, we were playing outside and watching a young teenager playing with her pet rabbit. The rabbit was happily eating grass and clover, and Sarah was enraptured with the animal. She said, "Bunny eat!" and "Eat grass!" and then she began saying over and over, "Mmmm, delicious!"
By the way, please do not judge me for my dorky white crew socks in this picture. They are so warm and comfortable, you have no idea what you are missing!
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Moth Debacle
This morning David left to go out of town for a couple of days. Not surprisingly, yesterday I noticed Sarah had a little bit of a cough, which last night got a lot worse and we listened to her coughing half the night. So, I'm on my own with a sickly but sweet kiddo for the weekend, meanwhile it is raining unceasingly outside. Thankfully, I think I've got enough provisions to get us through the weekend, and staying-in in our PJs all weekend doesn't sound too bad, especially in this weather.
Anyway, I put on a Blue's Clues for Sarah to watch so I could throw together a quick casserole for us to eat for lunch/most other meals this weekend. I was almost done, when the program ended. This of course meant poor, sickly, clingy Sarah suddenly glued to my knees as I am trying to get the casserole done. No big deal though. Just one more step--putting the bread crumbs on top.
So, I get the bread crumb canister out of the pantry, and lift it angled above the casserole ready to pour. I remove the plastic lid, and immediately I am struck that there is something not right. The top of the canister has these stringy strings and . . . then I see . .
THE CANISTER IS FULL OF MOTHS AND MOTH LARVAE!
And of course, suddenly the moths are flying in my face and swarming my kitchen. This is unacceptable, so I launch myself toward the trash can, and manage to open it, hurl the bread crumb canister in, and close the lid in exactly 0.045 seconds. Unfortunately, in my haste, I knock poor Sarah to the ground and then semi-trample her.
We retreat to the living room, where I hold and comfort my now thoroughly traumatized toddler for a solid 10 minutes, meanwhile all I can think about is the moth colony now residing in my trash can and how I am going to get it out of my house.
Once Sarah has returned to her senses, I begin by placing her in her high chair in another room--if there is one thing we have learned it is sick kid plus moths plus hysterical mother equals nothing good. Snacks are given to appease her for a couple of minutes.
Step two, putting my hair up in a bun. This may seem strange, but one reason I can't stand moths is that they fly in your hair and get all tangled and ugh . . . typing this is creeping me out! Yuck! So, hair up is a must.
Then, I return to the kitchen. One of the moths is gleefully making a new home for himself in my flour canister, which was open at the time of the "incident." After several attempts and much flour flying all over my kitchen, I catch him and add him to the others in the trash bin.
Then I notice the BIG ONE. Sitting on the windowsill is one humongous, hairy, spotted, disgusting moth. The monster was seriously like 2 inches long, and it was fat and I think I already said it but I will say it again HAIRY. Thankfully, using the screen and the sliding windows I was able to get it technically out of my kitchen. However, it is still sitting just outside the window on the ledge--either mocking me or plotting its return or, most likely, just dumbfounded to be separated from the rest of his colony and wondering what exactly this wet, cold world is he has been thrust into. Yeah, that's probably more likely. Moths are annoying, but they aren't really very smart.
Now, to deal with the trashcan. I am able to loose the bag, and quickly grasp it closed. No moths escaped, which I credit to their enjoyment of the two (TWO!) full loaves of bread at the bottom of the bag, from the epic baking failure of the previous day. I tie up the bag, and notice several small holes in the body of the bag. Cursing cheap Asian garbage bags (Hefty?? Where were you today??), I run through my apartment and deposit the bag outside our door in the hallway. At least the moths can escape there and not in my actual home. I realize that this is not a complete solution, but remember--rain, pajamas, sole caretaker of sick toddler alone in the house--the trash is just going to have to sit there till I can take it down to the trash bins later.
Whew. Thankfully, both my casserole and, as far as I can tell, my flour managed to survive without any moths are larvae making permanent homes there. Now I am going to go shower to get rid of the moth heeby-jeebies!
[By the way, I realize this story constitutes NOTHING in terms of husband-out-of-town-disasters--my friends Alisa and Kayla have some doosies, and I am sure many of my other friends too. This story is merely amusing, thankfully, and not fully traumatic! But if this weekend makes a turn in that direction, I will let you know.]
Anyway, I put on a Blue's Clues for Sarah to watch so I could throw together a quick casserole for us to eat for lunch/most other meals this weekend. I was almost done, when the program ended. This of course meant poor, sickly, clingy Sarah suddenly glued to my knees as I am trying to get the casserole done. No big deal though. Just one more step--putting the bread crumbs on top.
So, I get the bread crumb canister out of the pantry, and lift it angled above the casserole ready to pour. I remove the plastic lid, and immediately I am struck that there is something not right. The top of the canister has these stringy strings and . . . then I see . .
THE CANISTER IS FULL OF MOTHS AND MOTH LARVAE!
And of course, suddenly the moths are flying in my face and swarming my kitchen. This is unacceptable, so I launch myself toward the trash can, and manage to open it, hurl the bread crumb canister in, and close the lid in exactly 0.045 seconds. Unfortunately, in my haste, I knock poor Sarah to the ground and then semi-trample her.
We retreat to the living room, where I hold and comfort my now thoroughly traumatized toddler for a solid 10 minutes, meanwhile all I can think about is the moth colony now residing in my trash can and how I am going to get it out of my house.
Once Sarah has returned to her senses, I begin by placing her in her high chair in another room--if there is one thing we have learned it is sick kid plus moths plus hysterical mother equals nothing good. Snacks are given to appease her for a couple of minutes.
Step two, putting my hair up in a bun. This may seem strange, but one reason I can't stand moths is that they fly in your hair and get all tangled and ugh . . . typing this is creeping me out! Yuck! So, hair up is a must.
Then, I return to the kitchen. One of the moths is gleefully making a new home for himself in my flour canister, which was open at the time of the "incident." After several attempts and much flour flying all over my kitchen, I catch him and add him to the others in the trash bin.
Then I notice the BIG ONE. Sitting on the windowsill is one humongous, hairy, spotted, disgusting moth. The monster was seriously like 2 inches long, and it was fat and I think I already said it but I will say it again HAIRY. Thankfully, using the screen and the sliding windows I was able to get it technically out of my kitchen. However, it is still sitting just outside the window on the ledge--either mocking me or plotting its return or, most likely, just dumbfounded to be separated from the rest of his colony and wondering what exactly this wet, cold world is he has been thrust into. Yeah, that's probably more likely. Moths are annoying, but they aren't really very smart.
Now, to deal with the trashcan. I am able to loose the bag, and quickly grasp it closed. No moths escaped, which I credit to their enjoyment of the two (TWO!) full loaves of bread at the bottom of the bag, from the epic baking failure of the previous day. I tie up the bag, and notice several small holes in the body of the bag. Cursing cheap Asian garbage bags (Hefty?? Where were you today??), I run through my apartment and deposit the bag outside our door in the hallway. At least the moths can escape there and not in my actual home. I realize that this is not a complete solution, but remember--rain, pajamas, sole caretaker of sick toddler alone in the house--the trash is just going to have to sit there till I can take it down to the trash bins later.
Whew. Thankfully, both my casserole and, as far as I can tell, my flour managed to survive without any moths are larvae making permanent homes there. Now I am going to go shower to get rid of the moth heeby-jeebies!
[By the way, I realize this story constitutes NOTHING in terms of husband-out-of-town-disasters--my friends Alisa and Kayla have some doosies, and I am sure many of my other friends too. This story is merely amusing, thankfully, and not fully traumatic! But if this weekend makes a turn in that direction, I will let you know.]
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Outside Friends
Playing outside has become an essential daily activity for Sarah and her boundless toddler energy. Not surprisingly, she has met some little friends that are usually playing outside around the same time that she is!Those friends include:
This cutie-pie, who is one month younger than Sarah.
This precious little one is who is a little older than Sarah.
This "big sister" who is very sweet, if a tad bit bossy.
This little guy who is about the same size as Sarah, but is not even a year old yet! I love that his grandma still wears the traditional attire of her people-group. 
And this cutie, who is only 6 months old and doesn't really "play" yet, but who makes great faces!!Outside activities include:
playing on the playground, of course,
checking out doors together,
peering in the storefronts of closed stores together,
Hug attempts,
More hug attempts,
and holding hands.
Thankfully, Sarah never forgets who her Favorite Friend is. :)
Friday, October 1, 2010
Recommendation
I don't read too many "spiritual" blogs. I oftentimes find myself overwhelmed or burdened into a sort of legalism by a lot of blogs, especially the ones gear toward Christian wives and mothers. This is probably not the fault of the bloggers, but of the way even a taste of "do better, do more" interacts with the sinful pride in my heart, but then the reality of my ineptitude sets in and I am left feeling like there is no alternative to failure. Clearly, I have lots of issues I need to work out!
Most of these issues probably have to do with my understanding of the Gospel. Not my intellectual understanding, mind you, but my emotional and spiritual and practical HEART understanding. Recently I found a blog that really challenges me in this area:
http://www.theologyforwomen.org/
It is written by a woman named Wendy, who says over and over that her blog is a lecture to herself and her own heart. More than anything, she's just thinking deeply about the gospel and its practical implications for her own life. Her post today is about what it really means to struggle with pride, something I have already mentioned is true of myself in this very post, and it was really challenging to me to think more deeply about what my real issues might be. Anyway, just had to pass on this link. If it encourages you or challenges you in a good way, I am glad. If not, no big deal. Blogs are not Scripture, (hallelujah!) so you don't have to like the same ones I like. :) Peace. Have a good day!
Most of these issues probably have to do with my understanding of the Gospel. Not my intellectual understanding, mind you, but my emotional and spiritual and practical HEART understanding. Recently I found a blog that really challenges me in this area:
http://www.theologyforwomen.org/
It is written by a woman named Wendy, who says over and over that her blog is a lecture to herself and her own heart. More than anything, she's just thinking deeply about the gospel and its practical implications for her own life. Her post today is about what it really means to struggle with pride, something I have already mentioned is true of myself in this very post, and it was really challenging to me to think more deeply about what my real issues might be. Anyway, just had to pass on this link. If it encourages you or challenges you in a good way, I am glad. If not, no big deal. Blogs are not Scripture, (hallelujah!) so you don't have to like the same ones I like. :) Peace. Have a good day!
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